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OK, I would LOVE to see someone make these!!! Here are a bunch of screen caps for them. Unfortunately there is no single picture that shows them perfectly so you will probably have to do a composite...

Please note that although this pic is very nice it isn't straight on so the angles are going to be a bit off if you use this as your template. the above pictures are much better for that. This pic is good for seeing how it all comes together and fits on the gaunt.

Not likely considering the side housing of most of ours are solid resin. Plus you want that side piece on pretty strong, so it doesn't come off. I used all the glue in the world to try to keep it on, and in the end I had to use screws.

Those look great guys. I think it'd be tight to have a set of blades like that, and have them able to vecro or snap into place for photo ops. You could hide them in....um....Damn Jango and his pouchless pants...

I've been studying.......and I think that if I was to build some gauntlets from scratch with this feature in mind, that I could make these blades retractable. Don't get me wrong, it'd be alot of work, but I see it as do-able.

I don't know. From the screen caps, it looks like they're coming out of the part that holds the sabre dart and tubes for the hoses - not the bottom of the top half of the gaunt. Obviously, there's no way those blades would fit in there, but that's what it looks like they did.

I see it as 5 separate blades. The four from the bottom fold independently forward, while the topmost in the pics folds towards the back. Their width should fit into that part of the gauntlet, IMHO. Each respective blade is on its own pivot point originating on the axis from which it would be at full extension.

I really think this could work. I've created more complicated stuff than this. The hardest part is finding a lock-open/lock-closed system. But, that too can be figured out.

I've got it! The four lower blades can be operated by one slide lever that is articulated to each piece with a pin, while at the same time each blade is pivoting on a pin as its axis. The forward one would simply work in reverse. Rearmost blades; push the lever forward, foremost blade; pull its lever back.

Ok, kiddos. I had a couple hours to spare between hospital dropoff/pickup, so I busted out a wood mock-up of my idea. I want to make it VERY clear that this was slapped together, and a quality piece would need more time and better calculations. This, however, does prove that it can be done.

I will stress some points;
1. The distance of "A" is to be exactly the same on every piece connected to the same armature. If not, the throw (radius of the arc) will be off and the device will not move.

2. If the side-lever design is unacceptable, then another alternative is to extend "bar 1" towrds the bottom of the picture where it can be activated by a push/pull means.

3. Using the thinner medium of metal, the blades would have a slight upturn to their facing edge, like on a propeller. Thus facilitating the blade passing over the one next to it in the retraction process.

4. Further improving the design, I would perhaps lengthen the radius of "A" to increase leverage.

5. The missing forward blade could be attached in a similar fashion using it's own lever because it would need to sweep in the opposite direction to save space. Alternatives do exist with more design modifications.

6) Some good old fashioned tweaking is in order to assure a smoothly operational apparatus. Measurements should be calculated and proper scale determined before committing to the actual cutting phase.

It appears to me from the original photos that the blades are layers rather than on a single plane. This would explain a collapsable retraction. I like the levering idea. Another solution may be a wire system that works like a spring loaded fishing reel. If the reel could be forced to rewind and the blades were forced to eject with spring tension, the entire device may be able to fit inside. Another possibility of course would be an RC car servo connected to one of the existing switches on the gauntlet.

Again, it is important to understand that modifications must be made to my wooden model.

If you look at the width of the widest blade in the screencaps, to me at least, it appears as though this would fit inside the gauntlet housing.
Study my model. It is obvious that the base piece can be AT LEAST half as wide as it is.
Also, as per my explanation in my previous post, when made of metal and thinner, the blades would have a slight upturn on their facing edge. They would, in closing, pass over the pivot point of the one next to them(this point being the four right ones in my pic). The closing needn't actually stop until both parallel bars close on each other. This should illustrate that the housing need only be SLIGHTLY wider than the widest part of the widest blade.
If calculated properly and adjusted in design, the finished piece would fold into an entire package as wide as the widest blade.